No. 13 WVU suffers through another walk-off loss, as K-State pulls off comeback
Berra, maybe best known for his witty quotes than even his Hall-of-Fame career, once said, 'It's like déjà vu all over again.'
That must have been exactly what WVU coach Steve Sabins and his players felt like Friday night in an 8-7 walk-off loss against Kansas State inside Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan. Kan.
BOX SCORE
Just three days after losing a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning against rival Pitt and getting walked-off 10-9, the Mountaineers (39-9, 18-5 Big 12) were at it again.
This time, Kansas State (29-20, 15-10) erased a five-run deficit in its final at-bats and then won the game on Keegan O'Connor's base hit to right field that scored pinch runner Rohan Putz.
For a second consecutive game, all WVU players could do was get out of the way of the instant celebration that ensued and it must have seemed surreal. Two straight games with a combined nine-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning and the Mountaineers gave up a combined 11 runs in those final moments.
No way that could happen. It did.
The only good news on Friday came from about 1,100 miles away. That's where Arizona State dropped a 6-5 decision against Houston in Phoenix, meaning the Mountaineers' magic number to capture its first outright Big 12 regular-season championship was lowered to two games.
The Sun Devils now find themselves in a second-place tie with TCU in the Big 12 standings, both schools three games back of the Mountaineers with five conference games remaining.
That likely added very little condolence to WVU, which would prefer to go out on a winning note to take the title. That could still happen if the Mountaineers bounce back and win the final two games of the series against the Wildcats.
But it didn't happen Friday night. Instead, it was Kansas State who dominated in the ninth inning.
WVU reliever Reese Bassinger was on the mound to begin the inning after having just pitched a scoreless eighth.
O'Connor began the inning with a 354-foot solo home run to left field that made it 7-3.
Seth Dardar followed with a single and Dee Kennedy doubled. Dardar scored on A.J. Evasco's infield single.
That was it for Bassinger, who left with WVU still leading 7-4, but there were two runners on base with no outs.
Sabins went with Carson Estridge, who has been the Mountaineers' most trusted reliever of the season, but what followed was true disaster.
Bear Madliak hit a ground ball to WVU shortstop Brodie Kresser. What may have been WVU's sixth double play of the game instead turned into Kresser's throw to second base going wide and sailing into right field. That scored Kennedy to cut WVU's lead to 7-5.
Pinch hitter Sam Flores then hit a bouncer to third base. The ball went right underneath the glove of WVU third baseman Chase Swain for a single that scored Evasco. Shintaro Inoue walked to load the bases. There still were no outs.
The only out of the inning came on Ty Smolinski's groundout to third, but that scored pinch runner Cadyn Karl to tie the game, 7-7.
WVU elected to intentionally walk Maximus Martin to load the bases again with the hope of inducing a double play to get out of the nightmare.
Instead, O'Connor came up for the second time in the inning and promptly laced a ball to right field that sailed over the head of Armani Guzman – WVU had the outfielders playing in for a possible throw to the plate – and bounced to the wall for the game winner.
In all, Kansas State sent 10 hitters to the plate in the ninth inning. They produced six hits, two walks and the one error from WVU.
It's just the second time this season the Mountaineers have dropped two games in a row, but they've now lost four of their last six games.
The ninth-inning rally spoiled a solid start from WVU's Griffin Kirn, who went seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits and one walk.
WVU's offense came from Kyle West and Logan Sauve, who both had three hits. Jace Rineart hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning that gave WVU a 3-0 lead. Rineart leads WVU with 48 RBIs on the season.
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